Doncaster player-coach Paul Cooke pulled out of yesterday’s Championship clash at Cougar Park after feeling ill overnight.
The club’s 44-32 defeat against Keighley did not help him feel any better, neither did the injury to scrum-half Richard Wilkinson,
Wilkinson limped off late in the game with a leg injury and would look to be a doubt for Sunday’s home game against Sheffield Eagles.
“It doesn’t look good for Richard,” admitted Cooke.
The Dons retained fourth spot following their first defeat in five games, but their hopes of pipping Featherstone and Halifax for second spot suffered a serious setback.
Doncaster players, who claimed a knock-on in the build-up, were incensed with the referee’s decision to allow Keighley’s first and third first half tries which secured them an 18-12 interval lead , to stand.
“I thought that some of their tries were very soft and some of them very dubious,” claimed Cooke, who said his absence had affected the team tactically on the day. The boys are feeling it in there but we’ve got to be better.
“We probably got something out of the game (a losing bonus point) that we didn’t deserve on the day even though we gave ourselves a chance.”
As well as the result Cooke admitted that he was also disappointed at the number of points the team had conceded.
“Wwe’ve conceded nearly 80 points in our last two games against two teams who are below us in the league,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of Sunday’s home game against Sheffield but I can’t think of a better game to get the boys back up again.”